This reference-only collection holds New Zealand birth, death, and marriage indexes, shipping indexes, cemetery and probate indexes and electoral rolls. It contains both printed and electronic resources. It also has resources from other countries including Australia, Great Britain and Ireland.
Search for items using the National Library Catalogue on Find
Highlights of the Collection
Electronic Resources available at our reading room on Thorndon Quay in Wellington
See a full list of the electronic resources available at the Library
- Ancestry Library Edition
- Origins Total Access
- Times Digital Archive 1785-1985
- 19th Century British Library Newspapers
- 17th and 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers
- The Guardian and The Observer 1791-2003
- The Irish Times 1859-2007
- The Scotsman 1817-1950
- Sydney Morning Herald 1955-1995
- Newztext
- New Zealand Gazette 1841-2004
Resources focussing on New Zealand
- New Zealand birth, death, marriage indexes up to 1990
- Māori birth, death and marriage indexes
- Alexander Turnbull Library biographies index
- New Zealand cemetery and probate indexes
- Published shipping indexes
- Military indexes
- Index New Zealand, an important source for biographical information
- New Zealand Society of Genealogists’ indexes
- Electoral rolls, from 1853 to the latest available, are readily available in the Reading Room
Resources focussing on Australia
- Birth, death and marriage indexes for Australia
- Directories and electoral rolls
- Microfiche of original inward bound passenger lists for ships from British and foreign ports to Victoria, and also from New Zealand to Victoria 1852-1923
- Cemetery and probate indexes
Resources focussing on Great Britain and Ireland
Available through Ancestry Library Edition, on public computers at our Thorndon Quay reading room in Wellington. You can also access Ancestry Library Edition at some local public libraries in New Zealand:
- England, Wales and Scotland census 1841-1901
- London parish records
Available through Origins Total Access, a database that is available on the public computers at our Thorndon Quay reading room in Wellington:
- Griffith’s valuation of Ireland searchable by name with images
- England and Wales census 1841, 1861, 1871
- National wills index pre 1858
- Boyd’s marriage index
- Apprentice indexes
- Society of Genealogists’ indexes
Available in the Family History Collection:
- General register office overseas indexes
- Directories
- Index Library (early wills and indexes)
- National probate calendars 1858-1943
- Sasine indexes for Scotland
- British and Irish biographies 1840-1940, a major resource of biographical dictionaries
- English record societies publications.
Websites
National Library web resources
- The National Library Catalogue
- TAPUHI, the catalogue of unpublished manuscripts and pictures in the Turnbull Library
- Papers Past, full-text copies of 19th and early 20th century New Zealand newspapers
- Te Puna Web Directory, a directory of New Zealand and Pacific Islands websites
- Timeframes, which contains images of more than 85,000 items from the Turnbull Library collections.
Search for items in the Family History Collection
You can search for items in our Family History Collection by using our Find website.
Some books in the Family History Collection (FHC), the New Zealand Collection (NZC), the Maori Collection (MAO) and the General Reference Collection (REF) are not at the Thorndon Quay reading room. These are indicated in the catalogue, and can be ordered by clicking 'send request'.
